The Story of Aught

Don "Aught" Palen
&
His famous blue jacket

A big, stocky man
Six foot plus
A fine athlete in baseball and tennis...
Maybe not golf

A genius at music trivia
He can trace session musicians
At least 6 groups back
With no effort 

An extraordinary collector of albums
He has a good sized, two story home
Where at least half the space,
(The entire upstairs?)
Including a big chunk of garage is taken up
With vinyl, tapes, cd’s, posters and on and on

It has to be one of the largest
Most comprehensive
Collections in existence

He also has a good size (some would say great) heart
He looks for and emphasizes positive features
In every person he meets
He is a sentimentalist of the first degree
Who clings to 'the way we were' with steadfast devotion

Of course he has some eccentricities, as do most of us
His include a propensity to tell or email a joke
(... and yes Virginia, some are extremely lame, moldy, or both)
Every time he communicates with someone

Hanging out with some Texas pals

Be they friend or foe

A Schenectady raised patriot
He served a full career in the US Air Force Medical Service Corps
Rising from the enlisted ranks to become a Lieutenant Colonel

He has a propensity to wear
An (antique?) blue sport coat
With a hue we most often see
On an Easter egg
He also once sported a mullet
Long after the rest of his hair
Had bid him a fond adieu'.

He has a well deserved reputation for wearing outrageous outfits
On golf courses
His standard is set on this objective...
The more conservative the golf course
The more outrageous his outfit
Likely an old carry over from military "Shock and awe" strategy
He failed to learn in Squadron Officer School

Finally, and after living in Texas
So close to the border for so many years
He shaved his head

Collaborating with Lady Gaga

I believe he did this in an effort
To resemble a rare breed
A Mexican Hairless
And blend in better
But I have not been able to confirm this on Snopes,
Truth or Fiction, or Urban Legends

When he played baseball
And he played it well
He favored a double "00" as his uniform number
Another sign that he wasn't planning to take anything too serious

Recalling this some years ago
Right at the turn of the century, 2,000 in fact
I nicknamed him "Double Aught"
Later shortened simply to "Aught"
You see the connection right?

You can find Aught in some unlikely places today
Such as in performance with Lady Gaga
With certain cowboys

Having a frosty with the Pope of Texas

And with other Texas folks
Including the Pope of Texas
Okay, okay... he's the Pope
Of the rest of the world too

Aught's actual name is
Don Palen
An extraordinarily good man
He is married to a wonderful lady,
Andrea
I'm guessing close to 50 years
The two of them together
Andrea is also from the Schenectady area

Aught has two great sons
One; Sean, an MS, and former inner city math teacher (a hero of mine)
The other; Mark, a PhD and professor at Exeter (another hero of mine)

Aught is my brother...from another Mother

Veni, Vidi, Velveeta...they don't make'em

...like they used to.

A recurring September event - dateline Reno circa 10 years ago or so

Veni ("I came" - & thanks for forcing a little bit of Latin into me Mrs. McKillip)

The Coyote, his bride and I
Were to meet early for our annual trek
To Reno, Nevada for the biker event "Street Vibrations"

Both had to work late

Reno's famous Virginia Street during Street Vibrations

The previous night
So they begged off our departure time
I had to get there earlier as I also had
A World Poker Tour tournament
I wanted to enter
I left ahead of them
The Harley packed light just for a couple of nights

I should have been forewarned things might be cockeyed that day
But I pressed on
There were warm temperatures on both sides of the Sierras
So I dressed light
T-shirt, shirt and light jacket
Figured I would endure the cold over Donner pass

The trip was smooth and uneventful
Set the cruise control on 80 and let'er rip...
I hit Reno in a couple hours with a little time to spare
So I headed for Chester's Harley Davidson
To present my HOG (Harley Owner's Group) fanatic card
And pick up my 'proof of life,'
A commemorative event pin for members only

Got that done then went to the wrong casino
To enter the tournament
They were both off the main strip
And I'm easily confused
But then repacked the bike
And found my way to the right casino in time

Vidi ("I saw")

There I quickly paid up
And had a few moments to grab a bite
Went to the table a couple of minutes early
Sat in my assigned seat
And noticed a player there who looked familiar
I asked, "Is it possible I have seen you on the rectangular screen?"
He said "Yes."

This is TJ
He doesn't look mean at all in real life.
(It took a Poker Hall of Fame pro
 to knock me out of that
tournament... I'd like to spin it that way.)

I said, "Please forgive me for forgetting but you are...?"
He said, "TJ" and the dealer said his last name but I couldn't make it out
So I said something dumb like; "Well, it's awesome to be sitting at the same table with you."
He turned out to be TJ Clotier
My first genuine poker pro and I was gambling with him
Me and eight others that is

I'm thinking; 'Wow, these are all pros here? I am in wayyyy over my head.

Velveeta (OK, so I didn't conquer, & enough Latin already.)

I broke (yes, a play on words) into tournament poker here in Sacramento a few months ago

And have played with some pretty tough hombres

So I was surprisingly comfortable with the table

Got about an hour and a half into the puppy

Was a couple thousand ahead

Then after small initial bets ("blinds"), TJ and I were head to head

After the flop I had a flush draw.

TJ was first to act and pushed all in with over 12 thousand in chips

There was a king in the flop
I correctly assumed he had another as one of his hole, or "pocket" cards

But was still surprised at the size of the bet

I knew I had a 15-20% chance, twice to hit the flush

It would be on the turn (sixth card) or the river (seventh and final) card

I had recently seen one of the top players in the world, Phil Hellmuth

Miss a flush in similar circumstances... three consecutive times in a televised tournament

So I had a little more vivid picture of my chances in spite of the odds

Yet, I had a chance to knock out a Hall of Fame poker player

I took the chance and called

It wasn't to be
My flush missed and I was out of the tournament

I again thanked TJ for the privilege of playing against him 

Wished the rest of the table luck
Two had been knocked out before me

And headed on my way with another precious memory

To tuck into the cranial treasure chest

In all, TJ is a really friendly person who plays fairly tight poker
(But I am truly unworthy of judging)

And entertains the entire table with short stories of his past adventures

That part I CAN judge...

As for the rest of the trip...

I had a $49 dollar room that night at Reno's Silver Legacy

Right on the strip and in the middle of the biker/vendor action

They close down Virginia Street
For bikes, spectators and vendors only

It was impressive how low key things were...

Not as many bikers and not as many vendors as years past

The recession has made it less than half of what it once was

But the Coyote, his bride and I still got a chance to mosey

Down the middle of the street,

Enjoying the night lights,  a damn good Santana tribute band

A couple of beers and a couple of stogies

So it was...beat out of a tourney, a low density crowd and few vendors but great friends, music, and atmosphere

Cheap and cheesy.. just the way I like it... Velveeta
...and a little spam can't hurt either!